Recap: Cavs 87, Bobcats 72 (Or, the beginning of the beginning)

-And so another Cavs basketball season semi-officially begins anew. Let’s get to some notes:

-Another shaky debut game for Antawn Jamison, who started the game and went 1-9. The good news: unlike Antawn’s historically terrible Cavs debut, this game didn’t count. If one guy had to have a horrible night on Tuesday, I’m glad it’s a guy who’s not fighting for minutes.

-Your team leader in minutes, rebounds, steals, and blocks tonight: a one Jamario Moon, who also shot 3-5 from the field and only turned it over once. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again; the more the ball moves and the offense works like it should, the more effective Jamario is.

Last year, you knew the team was rolling on all cylinders when Jamario was hitting wide-open threes, getting out on the break, and converting alley-oops. Since the team no longer has the size or LeBron James necessary to win without the offense working, Jamario Moon should be the proverbial canary in the coal mine this season.

-Tom noted this earlier, but Boobie made 10 free throws tonight. To provide some context, Boobie made 34 free throws last season, over the course of 1,068 minutes.His high for free throws in a MONTH was 12. Boobie made exactly 10 free throws from February 4th to the end of the regular season last year. (He made a grand total of two free throws in the playoffs.)

So tonight was very encouraging for Boobie’s potential as an all-around scorer. Does this performance earn a shirt? YOU’RE DARN RIGHT IT DOES.

It’s good to have basketball back.

-Ramon Sessions: great pure point, brought energy, changes the game, makes the offense work. Not great at making the ball go in the basket all the time. The latter is less important than the former, but hopefully he can score more efficiently than he did tonight in the future. Still a very encouraging performance.

-Hey, Anthony Parker! I do not have high hopes for him this season, but he made 4 of his 5 shots and both of his threes tonight.

-Love seeing Hickson get 5 offensive boards and 10 free throw attempts. Do not love a starting power forward who doesn’t shoot threes go 5-13 from the floor. The work on the post moves and the mid-range jumper is all well and good, but J.J. is, was, and always should be a finisher first and foremost.

-The Bobcats seem like a team that would look bad in exhibition play — when the games count, they win because of their defense and intensity rather than their offensive talent. However, they’ve got a veteran core and are coming off a playoff season, so they don’t have a whole lot to prove in exhibition play. Just a theory.

-A year ago, I would have TOTALLY been freaking out over the fact that LeBron went 0-3 from the line in his first game. WHY DOES HE NOT SHOOT 700 FREE THROWS A DAY IN THE OFF-SEASON? WHY DOES HE NOT SEE THE VALUE IN THIS? Well, that’s not my problem anymore. So I’ve got that going for me. If you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my basketball anhedonia meeting with Gilbert Arenas. Until tomorrow, campers.

My comment is about the lack of airing of the preseason Cavs games. It would have been great to see the game on tv and get more excited about the team’s transition-especially given they won the first game! That was sweet to the ears hearing that we won despite that other guy leaving town. It bothers me though that all we could find to watch was that other guy’s first game on tv to watch. I think the cavs should consider airing the remaining preseason games as a PR consolation gesture to the fans to showcase our talent in their new roles along with their/our new coach.

I was happy to see the cavs win yesterday at the Q, hopefully one of many to come(I can dream right…). I really enjoyed the up-tempo of Scott and it seems like Moon and Sessions are perfectly made for it. Hickson did good but if he continues to attack the basket in such a sloppy way, he will eat a lot of blocks… Yes he is athletic, but he was not smart about the way he attacked the basket with 2-3 defenders around him…

Boobie looked good but he shouldn’t be the ball handler, I know Mo was out but Boobie looked out of step when trying to go fast speed…

Overall good game for the cavs. A win is a win even in the preseason. I still go with 35 wins +/- 3…
Go Cavs!!!

I agree with Krolik. Not saying LeBron’s name is dumb. I never liked when people refused to say Michigan either. It’s just plain stupid.

I have to say, from a pure basketball perspective, I wouldn’t mind seeing Heat vs. Lakers in the finals, but it is gonna hurt if LeBron wins this year. Buckle up for a long season guys…. we are irrelevant again.

I’m pretty sure we were irrelevant even when LeBron was with the team. That’s what it was always “LeBron and the James gang” every time the team was mentioned. Cleveland must seem like a cancerous growth to people.

The Lineup: (Click for Author’s Archive)

Nate Smith is an Associate Editor. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and moved to NE Ohio in 2000. He adopted the Cavs in 2003 and graduated from Kent State in 2009 with a BA in English. He can be contacted at oldseaminer@gmail.com or @oldseaminer on Twitter.

Tom Pestak is an Associate Editor. He's from the west side of Cleveland and lives and (mostly) dies by the success and (mostly) failures of his beloved teams. You can watch his fanaticism during Cavs games @tompestak.

Robert Attenweiler is a Staff Writer. Originally from OH, he's long made his home in NYC where he writes plays and screenplays (www.disgracedproductions.com) some of which end up being about Ohio, basketball or both. He has also written for The Classical and the blog Raising the Cadavalier. You can contact him at rattenweiler@gmail.com or @cadavalier.

Benjamin Werth is a Staff Writer. He was born in Cleveland and raised in Mentor, OH. He now lives in Germany where he is an opera singer and actor. He can be reached at blfwerth@gmail.com.

Cory Hughey is a Staff Writer. He grew up in Youngstown, the Gary, Indiana of Ohio. He graduated from Youngstown State in 2008 with a worthless telecommunications degree. He can be contacted at theleperfromwatts@yahoo.com or @coryhughey on Twitter.

David Wood is our Links Editor. He is a 2012 Graduate of Syracuse University with an English degree who loves bikes, beer, basketball, writing, and Rimbaud. He can be reached on Twitter: @nothingwood.

Mallory Factor is the voice of Cavs: The Podcast. By day Mallory works in fundraising and by night he runs a music business company. To see his music endeavors check out www.fivetracks.com. Hit him up at Malloryfactorii@gmail.com or @Malfii.

John Krolik is the Editor Emeritus of Cavs: The Blog. At present, he is pursuing a law degree at Tulane University. You can contact him at johnkrolik@gmail.com or @johnkrolik.

Follow Me On Twitter

General NBA

Other Places To Find My Work

The Comment Monster

A monster lives in the comments section of Cavs: The Blog, and he likes to feed on comments. We have very little idea about when he will strike. What we do know is that comments with 2 or more links will get filed into the spam folder, as will comments with foul or discriminatory language. The comment monster also seems to enjoy extra-long comments, so if you have a long comment, you may want to press copy before submitting a long comment and break it into multiple pieces if the monster eats it. If you are having particular trouble with the monster, email one of us and we will talk to him for you.